Siege of Nicosia (1799)

The Siege of Nicosia (late January 1799) was a battle of the Egyptian Campaign of the French Revolutionary Wars. An invading French army of 1,050 troops under General Jean-Baptiste Kleber besieged the British base of Nicosia on the island of Cyprus, facing its 1,080-strong garrison under Julius Bary; the majority of the garrison had been defeated at the Battle of Vatili three weeks earlier. The French army succeeded in storming Nicosia with just 98 losses, conquering Cyprus and ending the Royal Navy's threat to French control in Egypt. Cyprus was occupied by France for much of the campaign, and the British were unable to interfere with the French invasion in the region.